Iran Officially a Country to Reckon

Village Elder

Gibraltar orders Iranian tanker release despite US detention bid
 AFP  16th Aug 2019 10:33:08 GMT +0300
The Grace 1, carrying 2.1 million barrels of Iranian oil, was seized by Gibraltar police and British special forces on July 4, provoking a diplomatic crisis . [AFP]
Gibraltar's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favour of releasing an Iranian supertanker seized on suspicion of shipping oil to war-torn Syria in breach of international sanctions, in a blow to the United States which had tried to block the vessel's departure.
The decision by Chief Justice Anthony Dudley came after Gibraltar's government said it had received written assurances from Iran that the Grace 1 would not be headed for countries "subject to European Union sanctions".
The Grace 1 "is no longer subject to detention", he said.
Gibraltar chief minister Fabian Picardo hailed the ruling, saying in a statement: "We have deprived the Assad regime in Syria of more than $140 million worth of crude oil."
SEE ALSO : Tehran fumes as Britain seizes Iranian oil tanker over Syria sanctions
Hours before the announcement, the US launched a last-minute legal move demanding that the British overseas territory detain the ship.
Judge Dudley said the ship would have been on its way had Washington not intervened, at a time when an accord between London and Tehran had seemed within reach after weeks of diplomatic wrangling.
Picardo said he had met with Iranian officials on July 19 in London "with a will for a de-escalation with regard to all the various problems arising from the detention of the Grace 1".
Washington's move had delayed the court decision on the vessel's fate but Judge Dudley said in his ruling that he had not received a written request from US.
Washington can still make another bid for the supertanker's detention as long as the vessel has not left Gibraltar's waters.
Gibraltar police and British special forces seized the Grace 1, carrying 2.1 million barrels of Iranian oil, on July 4, provoking a diplomatic crisis.
The Gibraltar government on Thursday reiterated its conviction that the ship was carrying the crude to Syria in violation of separate EU and US sanctions.
The boat's navigation plan "showed a fully marked-out route" from the Gulf to the Syrian port of Baniyas, it said.
Tehran retaliated by seizing a British tanker, the Stena Impero, on July 19 in the strategic Strait of Hormuz -- the conduit for much of the world's crude -- for breaking "international maritime rules".
Britain on Thursday reiterated its demand that Iran release the Stena Impero.
"There is no comparison or linkage between Iran’s unacceptable and illegal seizure of, and attacks on, commercial shipping vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the enforcement of EU Syria sanctions by the government of Gibraltar," a Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement.
'Piracy'
Tehran had repeatedly called for the release of Grace 1, insisting it had been in international waters and not headed to Syria.
In early July, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said the ship was detained at the behest of the United States.
Following Thursday's decision, Iran's foreign minister said a US attempt at "piracy" had failed.
"Having failed to accomplish its objectives through its #EconomicTerrorism -- including depriving cancer patients of medicine -- the US attempted to abuse the legal system to steal our property on the high seas," Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.
"This piracy attempt is indicative of Trump admin's contempt for the law."
The captain and three officers from Grace 1 had their police bail lifted and were formally released without any charges, a Gibraltar government spokesman said earlier.
The capture of the tankers heightened tensions just as European nations scramble to try to save a landmark nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic after the US pulled out of the accord in May last year and started imposing sanctions on Iran.
Iran responded by suspending some of its commitments under the nuclear deal.
The situation threatened to spiral out of control with ships attacked, drones downed and oil tankers seized.
At the height of the crisis, President Donald Trump called off air strikes against Iran at the last minute in June after its forces shot down a US drone.
President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that Iran favours talks with the US if it lifts sanctions against the Islamic republic.
"You cannot say that you won't allow our oil to be exported," he said.
"It cannot be that the Strait of Hormuz is free for you and the Strait of Gibraltar is not free for us."

Village Elder

The Ayatollahs DO NOT find the idea of being called Persians as appealing.
According to Islam, all pre-Islamic nations were "primitive and backward" and it is Islam thhat brought them greatness. Because Persia contradicts this ideal, they usually try to erase all pre-Islamic Persian history.
Also, such history was dominated by a monarchy, the very monarchy they overthrew. Any reference to Persia delegitimizes them religiously and politically. As such, this attempt to link the Islamic Republic of Iran to Persia by many of you is a farce.They are not related at all.

Village Elder

Also, the tanker at Gibraltar should not have been caught in the first place unless it entered EU waters. The fact that Iran arm-twisted the UK does not make the nation great. Iran will be a shell of itself in three or four years as sanctions drive it to the ground. The country is shrinking, the population is joining Afghans, Iraqis and Syrians in fleeing to Europe while the Government is shooting itself in the foot when it keeps imprisoning dual nationals who go back to Iran to try and help because the dual nationals also highlight to the locals how they have succeeded under secular laws outside Iran.
Iran is facing an environmental disaster brought about not by the West, but by itself. A predominantly desert nation focused on producing water loving wheat for 90 million people.Now drought and the overpumping of groundwater sources threatens Iran's food security.
Enter dual Iranian Americans who want to help. They end up being imprisoned under the accusation of spying and when they realize that those charges cannot stick, for petty things like speaking to the opposite sex.
Of course, they also are being used as bargaining chips by the hardliners who want to force the West to relieve sanctions.They forget that the US can actually leave those people there for decades.
Outside of Iran, the Russians want them out of Syria now.
Previously, a lot of armchair analysts had claimed that it was impossible for Assad to win the war without Iranian aligned millitias and when the current Idlib campaign started, it looked kind of true.The campaign was being done by only the Syrian Army backed by Russia and after initial gains, they lost some territory which the rebels held for 6 weeks
That assumption has changed the past two weeks. Without Iranian millita help, the Syrian Army is about to not only expel the rebels from Southern Idlib and capture a major city there, it will also force the Turkish army out of an observation post they placed there in a bid to try and stop the Syrian army from advancing.
As such, Russia wants Iran to leave as the US had offered to re-legitimize Assad in exchange for Iran leaving. A proposition supported by Israel.
In Iraq, Now Israel is using F-35s to bomb Iranian facilities near Iran itself with zero repercussions as Iraq has no advanced air defence systems.
It cannot buy thhem from the US as this would threaten Israel.They would never get them.They cannot buy them from Russia either, they would face US sanctions and with America having bases in Iraq, they would sooner overthrow Sadr than let that happen.
Iran's only bargaining chip seems to be Hezbollah, which may face issues of its own once Iranian money dries up. Lebanon is seething with internal issues.A million extra voters, 90% of them Christians were allowed to vote(they are the Christians abroad) while Shias are nearly double the number of Sunnis, yet Shias can only get the Speaker's position, not the position of Prime Minister(Because Christians are 40% of the population and 85% of Lebanese abroad, and 90% of diaspora voters, the Presidency remains in Christian hands) Hezbollah will cease to be an Iranian tool and focus on Lebanese domestic politics.
Iran is basically going to end up like North Korea with time. Only with 90 million people.

Also, the tanker at Gibraltar should not have been caught in the first place unless it entered EU waters. The fact that Iran arm-twisted the UK does not make the nation great. Iran will be a shell of itself in three or four years as sanctions drive it to the ground. The country is shrinking, the population is joining Afghans, Iraqis and Syrians in fleeing to Europe while the Government is shooting itself in the foot when it keeps imprisoning dual nationals who go back to Iran to try and help because the dual nationals also highlight to the locals how they have succeeded under secular laws outside Iran.
Iran is facing an environmental disaster brought about not by the West, but by itself. A predominantly desert nation focused on producing water loving wheat for 90 million people.Now drought and the overpumping of groundwater sources threatens Iran's food security.
Enter dual Iranian Americans who want to help. They end up being imprisoned under the accusation of spying and when they realize that those charges cannot stick, for petty things like speaking to the opposite sex.
Of course, they also are being used as bargaining chips by the hardliners who want to force the West to relieve sanctions.They forget that the US can actually leave those people there for decades.
Outside of Iran, the Russians want them out of Syria now.
Previously, a lot of armchair analysts had claimed that it was impossible for Assad to win the war without Iranian aligned millitias and when the current Idlib campaign started, it looked kind of true.The campaign was being done by only the Syrian Army backed by Russia and after initial gains, they lost some territory which the rebels held for 6 weeks
That assumption has changed the past two weeks. Without Iranian millita help, the Syrian Army is about to not only expel the rebels from Southern Idlib and capture a major city there, it will also force the Turkish army out of an observation post they placed there in a bid to try and stop the Syrian army from advancing.
As such, Russia wants Iran to leave as the US had offered to re-legitimize Assad in exchange for Iran leaving. A proposition supported by Israel.
In Iraq, Now Israel is using F-35s to bomb Iranian facilities near Iran itself with zero repercussions as Iraq has no advanced air defence systems.
It cannot buy thhem from the US as this would threaten Israel.They would never get them.They cannot buy them from Russia either, they would face US sanctions and with America having bases in Iraq, they would sooner overthrow Sadr than let that happen.
Iran's only bargaining chip seems to be Hezbollah, which may face issues of its own once Iranian money dries up. Lebanon is seething with internal issues.A million extra voters, 90% of them Christians were allowed to vote(they are the Christians abroad) while Shias are nearly double the number of Sunnis, yet Shias can only get the Speaker's position, not the position of Prime Minister(Because Christians are 40% of the population and 85% of Lebanese abroad, and 90% of diaspora voters, the Presidency remains in Christian hands) Hezbollah will cease to be an Iranian tool and focus on Lebanese domestic politics.
Iran is basically going to end up like North Korea with time. Only with 90 million people.

Village Elder

The Ayatollahs DO NOT find the idea of being called Persians as appealing.
According to Islam, all pre-Islamic nations were "primitive and backward" and it is Islam thhat brought them greatness. Because Persia contradicts this ideal, they usually try to erase all pre-Islamic Persian history.
Also, such history was dominated by a monarchy, the very monarchy they overthrew. Any reference to Persia delegitimizes them religiously and politically. As such, this attempt to link the Islamic Republic of Iran to Persia by many of you is a farce.They are not related at all.

Iranians= Persians ,it’s a fact. They are exactly the same people.Just because of a political change in power does not isolate them from their ethnic history.They still the same old Persians that have contributed a lot in the history of the world.

Village Elder

Iranians= Persians ,it’s a fact. They are exactly the same people.Just because of a political change in power does not isolate them from their ethnic history.They still the same old Persians that have contributed a lot in the history of the world.

Errm. No, not according to the Islamist.Perisans are Persians and Iranians are Iranians.
As per the doctrine of Islam, all societies prior to the arrival of Islam are considered to have lived in the Age of Ignorance.No matter how great their achievements are, those achievements ,according to the Islamists, pale to the arrival of Islam and the spread of the word of the Quran. As such, all pre-Islamic history should either be ignored at the least, or destroyed at most. To acknowledge the pre-historic achievements of Persia is to acknowledge that there were forces greater than Islam that existed in Persia is actually a form of Apostasy.
In Iran, merely acknowledging Cyrus the Great will get you arrested.And tortured.https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...nt-persian-king-cyrus-the-great-idUSKBN12V174 .
This is not unique to Iran, Islamists have faced the same conondrum almost everywhere outside Saudi Arabia where they often find a lot of evidence of pre -Islamic civilizations that were better than the Islamic nations that came after.
Given that Islam applies the (very true scenario of Arabia.Mohammed did unite warring retarded ignorant tribes that acted like the Shinobi in Naruto into having a common identity as Muslim) to even advanced civilizations outside Arabia, the official position of ALL Islamists is that acknowledging pre-Islamic civilization is acknowledging that systems better than Allah based theocracy exist/\.
That is why when the Wahabbi Al Nour Party came to power with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, they called for the demolition of the Pyramids.(These were later denied after a severe backlash even from the Muslim Brotherhood which was seeking legitimacy abroad)
That is why ISIS specifically targeted the Christian churches of Mosul in Iraq and Qaratayn in Syria as they date to the 1st Century after the death of Jesus.It is also why they targeted the Roman Theater in Palmyra.
It is also why Shias and Sunnis in Lebanon tend to deny their Phoenician heritage while the Christians of Lebanon tend to even refuse to identify as Arab and embrace it.Same to the Copts of Egypt who consider themselves as heirs to the Ancient Egyptians while for the Muslims, Egyptian History starts with the Islamic Jihads of the 7th Century, not the Old Kingdom of 3500 B.C.
It is why Pakistanis are falsely taught that they are a mix of Arabs and Indians(Which is a lie.There are some prominent families like the Memons who are ,even here in Kenya but 99.9% of Pakistanis are Punjabis,Sidhis ,Kashmiris etc ,just like the Punjabis, Sidhis, Kashmiris and the likes on the Indian side of the border) but not a single hoot is made about the Indus Civilization that gave birth to Hinduism .That would be validating India.
So, No, the Islamic Republic of Iran and devout Shiite Iranians do not associate themselves with Persia, Persianness or anything to do with pre-1979 Iran.

Village Elder

Errm. No, not according to the Islamist.Perisans are Persians and Iranians are Iranians.
As per the doctrine of Islam, all societies prior to the arrival of Islam are considered to have lived in the Age of Ignorance.No matter how great their achievements are, those achievements ,according to the Islamists, pale to the arrival of Islam and the spread of the word of the Quran. As such, all pre-Islamic history should either be ignored at the least, or destroyed at most. To acknowledge the pre-historic achievements of Persia is to acknowledge that there were forces greater than Islam that existed in Persia is actually a form of Apostasy.
In Iran, merely acknowledging Cyrus the Great will get you arrested.And tortured.https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...nt-persian-king-cyrus-the-great-idUSKBN12V174 .
This is not unique to Iran, Islamists have faced the same conondrum almost everywhere outside Saudi Arabia where they often find a lot of evidence of pre -Islamic civilizations that were better than the Islamic nations that came after.
Given that Islam applies the (very true scenario of Arabia.Mohammed did unite warring retarded ignorant tribes that acted like the Shinobi in Naruto into having a common identity as Muslim) to even advanced civilizations outside Arabia, the official position of ALL Islamists is that acknowledging pre-Islamic civilization is acknowledging that systems better than Allah based theocracy exist/\.
That is why when the Wahabbi Al Nour Party came to power with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, they called for the demolition of the Pyramids.(These were later denied after a severe backlash even from the Muslim Brotherhood which was seeking legitimacy abroad)
That is why ISIS specifically targeted the Christian churches of Mosul in Iraq and Qaratayn in Syria as they date to the 1st Century after the death of Jesus.It is also why they targeted the Roman Theater in Palmyra.
It is also why Shias and Sunnis in Lebanon tend to deny their Phoenician heritage while the Christians of Lebanon tend to even refuse to identify as Arab and embrace it.Same to the Copts of Egypt who consider themselves as heirs to the Ancient Egyptians while for the Muslims, Egyptian History starts with the Islamic Jihads of the 7th Century, not the Old Kingdom of 3500 B.C.
It is why Pakistanis are falsely taught that they are a mix of Arabs and Indians(Which is a lie.There are some prominent families like the Memons who are ,even here in Kenya but 99.9% of Pakistanis are Punjabis,Sidhis ,Kashmiris etc ,just like the Punjabis, Sidhis, Kashmiris and the likes on the Indian side of the border) but not a single hoot is made about the Indus Civilization that gave birth to Hinduism .That would be validating India.
So, No, the Islamic Republic of Iran and devout Shiite Iranians do not associate themselves with Persia, Persianness or anything to do with pre-1979 Iran.

By nature you’re a very stupid man so i kind of regret ever replying to your response.I am pointing out a simple fact that Iranians are basically the same old Persians that have had their fair share in the history books. We talking about a physical genetic aspect here that Iranians are the same old Persians written in the history books.Current day Iranians are without a doubt descendants of what was previously referred to as Persians. Now all that other political bullshit aside Persians(=100% Iranians) have always possessed a much higher IQ than their Arab foes and neighbors.

You are a very argumentative dude who will always argue over the simplest rudimentary facts making you look like quite the fool.Am gonna start avoiding you.

Village Elder

By nature you’re a very stupid man so i kind of regret ever replying to your response.I am pointing out a simple fact that Iranians are basically the same old Persians that have had their fair share in the history books. We talking about a physical genetic aspect here that Iranians are the same old Persians written in the history books.Current day Iranians are without a doubt descendants of what was previously referred to as Persians. Now all that other political bullshit aside Persians(=100% Iranians) have always possessed a much higher IQ than their Arab foes and neighbors.

You are a very argumentative dude who will always argue over the simplest rudimentary facts making you look like quite the fool.Am gonna start avoiding you.